Combination locks are used in a variety of applications, including, for example, with enclosures such as lockers, cabinets, storage sheds, and various gates and doors.
While the use of a combination lock, as compared to a key based lock, may eliminate the risk of lost, stolen, or copied keys, an authorized combination may still be learned by an unauthorized user, or known by a once-authorized user to whom access is no longer desired (e.g., when a locker is assigned to a different student in a subsequent school year). In these and other circumstances, an authorized user or administrator may wish to change the unlocking combination. In a conventional dial-operated combination lock, the authorized combination code may be changed, through operation of a button or other component, to one of several optional combination codes by disengaging the dial from one or more tumbler discs of a locking mechanism, such that the rotational position of the dial with respect to the tumbler discs may be adjusted. This results in a change in the numerical positions associated with an unlocking sequence of the dial, thereby generating a new authorized combination code.